World record holder Boulami fails test

ByReuters

Published 29/08/2002 at 10:12 GMT

Moroccan 3,000 metres steeplechase world record holder Brahim Boulami failed a dope test earlier this month, the Moroccan Athletics Federation said on Thursday. The federation said that Boulami, who shattered his own world record on August 16 in Zurich, tested positive "for a banned substance".

Moroccan 3,000 metres steeplechase world record holder Brahim Boulami failed a dope test earlier this month, the Moroccan Athletics Federation said on Thursday. The federation said that Boulami, who shattered his own world record on August 16 in Zurich, tested positive "for a banned substance".

The Moroccan federation said Boulami expressed his surprise at the result of the test, which MAP said was conducted on August 15 in Zurich, and said he was willing to undergo another test.

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"How can I be accused of taking a banned substance when I regularly undergo medical tests, the number of which have multiplied since I first beat the world record last year?" Boulami told MAP. "I train in high altitude in Ifrane (Morocco) four to five months a year, that's the only doping I could be accused of."

Saying the IAAF statement came as a shock, Boulami vowed to prove his innocence. "I'll wait for the result of the other (B sample) test and I am willing to undergo all kinds of tests."

Boulami smashed his own world record for the steeplechase by over two seconds with a time of seven minutes 53.17 seconds on August 16 in Zurich. The 30-year-old set the previous record of 7:55.28 at the Brussels Golden League meeting last August, becoming the first non-Kenyan to hold the world record since 1976.

He had been due to run in this year's meeting on Friday but organiser Wilfried Meert said the athlete had failed to arrive in Belgium as expected. "I refuse to condemn him without knowing the details. I fear his season is over," Meert said.

Boulami was 10th in last year's world championships behind Kenyan Reuben Kosgei and seventh in the Sydney Olympics.

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